LOST JEEPS :: View topic - Trouble aligning after lift

I put my Daystar (1.5" front, 2" rear) lift on quite some time ago. I got it aligned after it had settled a bit and it seemed okay, but then the tires started wearing unevenly (outside edges wearing considerably faster). I've taken it back in to a Merchants, but they say they can't do anything. I know I should get Als A-Arms and call it a day. That's on the budget for some time this year. But I have a problem believing that the baby Daystar would cause an inability to align.

I don't know alignment from nuclear physics. Never dealt with it before. In the time remaining before I can get some Als A-Arms, can someone give me some tips on what to do, what to look for, who to go to?

dog_party wrote:

Any lift bigger then 1.5" on a KJ using the OEM UCA's only can be aligned at the very edge of the specs,which will wear the tires anyway,I had the same problem till I got Al's arms.Time to Al's arms and be done with it.

tjkj2002 wrote:

dog_party wrote:

I am not so sure about this
we got over 2" from an OME lift and they aligned ours great ,very even wear
now granted we had 36K+ on the OE springs and it sagged a good bit but still we have room to go

I would take it to another shop and see what they say
We use a Goodyear retailer ,have a coupon that get us free tire rotation and 20% off, but they like to work on the KJ
They think it is cool that we have a KJ with "those big mud tires on it like that" we run 245/75 MTR's

I was under the impression from info on here that Al's arms made not adjustment allowances in the caster. Is this true or not?

Everything but the Caster on mine is in spec. Tech said the caster is not as big an issue as the camber and toe. Siad there was no adjustment in the Upper Control arm to make as the computer told him to do.

Caster is the Front to rear angle of the center of the wheel, correct? and camber is the left to right angle of the center of the wheel. Toe is obvious.

I was under the impression from info on here that Al's arms made not adjustment allowances in the caster. Is this true or not?

I went to get the KJ aligned finally (unfortunately 4,000 miles after I put on the lift) and the shop I go to said that it is so far out of spec that they can't do it. I had noticed that I was getting excessive wear on the outside of the front tires.

One of the techs pulled me on the side and recommended a specialty shop to take it to that he said would either be able to take care of it or point me in the right direction to someone who could. He also said that once I did that to keep a printout in the glovebox of what they did and THEN the regular shop could do it.

Does this sound right?

I really don't want to have to pull the front suspension apart again to take out the conduit nuts on the clevis lift. :cry:

Any suggestions?

There's really no conceivable way that a KJ with a lift on it will wear tires on the outside, unless it's toed out a LOT. Camber will almost always be negative, and by lowering your KJ you'll only make the positive camber worse. What suspension parts are you running?

Author:	dog_party [ Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:48 pm ]
Post subject:	Trouble aligning after lift
I put my Daystar (1.5" front, 2" rear) lift on quite some time ago. I got it aligned after it had settled a bit and it seemed okay, but then the tires started wearing unevenly (outside edges wearing considerably faster). I've taken it back in to a Merchants, but they say they can't do anything. I know I should get Als A-Arms and call it a day. That's on the budget for some time this year. But I have a problem believing that the baby Daystar would cause an inability to align. I don't know alignment from nuclear physics. Never dealt with it before. In the time remaining before I can get some Als A-Arms, can someone give me some tips on what to do, what to look for, who to go to?

Author:	tjkj2002 [ Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:55 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Trouble aligning after lift
dog_party wrote: I put my Daystar (1.5" front, 2" rear) lift on quite some time ago. I got it aligned after it had settled a bit and it seemed okay, but then the tires started wearing unevenly (outside edges wearing considerably faster). I've taken it back in to a Merchants, but they say they can't do anything. I know I should get Als A-Arms and call it a day. That's on the budget for some time this year. But I have a problem believing that the baby Daystar would cause an inability to align. I don't know alignment from nuclear physics. Never dealt with it before. In the time remaining before I can get some Als A-Arms, can someone give me some tips on what to do, what to look for, who to go to? Any lift bigger then 1.5" on a KJ using the OEM UCA's only can be aligned at the very edge of the specs,which will wear the tires anyway,I had the same problem till I got Al's arms.Time to Al's arms and be done with it.

Author:	dog_party [ Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:57 pm ]
Post subject:
Bummer. Thanks for the info.

Author:	jason thompson [ Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:01 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Trouble aligning after lift
tjkj2002 wrote: dog_party wrote: I put my Daystar (1.5" front, 2" rear) lift on quite some time ago. I got it aligned after it had settled a bit and it seemed okay, but then the tires started wearing unevenly (outside edges wearing considerably faster). I've taken it back in to a Merchants, but they say they can't do anything. I know I should get Als A-Arms and call it a day. That's on the budget for some time this year. But I have a problem believing that the baby Daystar would cause an inability to align. I don't know alignment from nuclear physics. Never dealt with it before. In the time remaining before I can get some Als A-Arms, can someone give me some tips on what to do, what to look for, who to go to? Any lift bigger then 1.5" on a KJ using the OEM UCA's only can be aligned at the very edge of the specs,which will wear the tires anyway,I had the same problem till I got Al's arms.Time to Al's arms and be done with it. I am not so sure about this we got over 2" from an OME lift and they aligned ours great ,very even wear now granted we had 36K+ on the OE springs and it sagged a good bit but still we have room to go I would take it to another shop and see what they say We use a Goodyear retailer ,have a coupon that get us free tire rotation and 20% off, but they like to work on the KJ They think it is cool that we have a KJ with "those big mud tires on it like that" we run 245/75 MTR's

Author:	dog_party [ Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:06 pm ]
Post subject:
I was just thinking about having the current tires flipped so I could start wearing out the other sides. But I'll take it to another shop first to see if they can work any magic. Thanks again for the info.

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Author:	tjkj2002 [ Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:08 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Trouble aligning after lift
jason thompson wrote: tjkj2002 wrote: dog_party wrote: I put my Daystar (1.5" front, 2" rear) lift on quite some time ago. I got it aligned after it had settled a bit and it seemed okay, but then the tires started wearing unevenly (outside edges wearing considerably faster). I've taken it back in to a Merchants, but they say they can't do anything. I know I should get Als A-Arms and call it a day. That's on the budget for some time this year. But I have a problem believing that the baby Daystar would cause an inability to align. I don't know alignment from nuclear physics. Never dealt with it before. In the time remaining before I can get some Als A-Arms, can someone give me some tips on what to do, what to look for, who to go to? Any lift bigger then 1.5" on a KJ using the OEM UCA's only can be aligned at the very edge of the specs,which will wear the tires anyway,I had the same problem till I got Al's arms.Time to Al's arms and be done with it. I am not so sure about this we got over 2" from an OME lift and they aligned ours great ,very even wear now granted we had 36K+ on the OE springs and it sagged a good bit but still we have room to go I would take it to another shop and see what they say We use a Goodyear retailer ,have a coupon that get us free tire rotation and 20% off, but they like to work on the KJ They think it is cool that we have a KJ with "those big mud tires on it like that" we run 245/75 MTR's Some have been able to get it back into spec with some left over and others haven't.It could be the shop doing but remember that the KJ is mass produced so everyone is slightly different so some may not be able to get a good alignment while others can with a lift and the OEM UCA's.There's a guy on the Colorado4x4 forum that bought a new TJ in early '07(left over '06 stock) and it came with a bent rear D44,after many alignments and then told the rear axle was bent,the real kicker was Chrysler wouldn't cover it either stating accident damge which it was never in a accident of offroaded(still 100% stock).So there may be a few KJ's out there that will never be able to get in alignment from the get go.

Author:	myjeepwalks [ Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:04 am ]
Post subject:
With my rusty's lift, strut plates, and clevis lift the shop barely got mine in spec. Without al's a-arms they never would of got it that close.

Author:	Jeepjeepster [ Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:38 pm ]
Post subject:
With the 3" lift on mine I am 100% within spec on the alignment. I stood and watched the guy align it and he didnt have a problem at all getting his snap-on computer to go in the green zone. The lower control arms are not even bottomed out on there adjustment.

Author:	raceinfan [ Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:57 pm ]
Post subject:
the shop that did my Rusty's lift & alignment got real real close, after a few months I addded a clevis lift & tires are still wearing even...no issues at all I'm still going to get AL's arms when the budget allows though

Author:	WV Jay [ Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:53 am ]
Post subject:
They were able to get mine barely within specs. I mentioned getting new upper arms and he said it wouldn't help it align any better. I was kinda like .

Author:	WoodysKJ [ Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:14 am ]
Post subject:
Everything but the Caster on mine is in spec. Tech said the caster is not as big an issue as the camber and toe. Siad there was no adjustment in the Upper Control arm to make as the computer told him to do. Caster is the Front to rear angle of the center of the wheel, correct? and camber is the left to right angle of the center of the wheel. Toe is obvious. I was under the impression from info on here that Al's arms made not adjustment allowances in the caster. Is this true or not?

Author:	meh_kick [ Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:12 am ]
Post subject:
WoodysKJ wrote: I was under the impression from info on here that Al's arms made not adjustment allowances in the caster. Is this true or not? Alignment can not be adjusted at the upper control arms, aftermarket or OE.

Author:	Guest [ Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:18 pm ]
Post subject:
WoodysKJ wrote: Everything but the Caster on mine is in spec. Tech said the caster is not as big an issue as the camber and toe. Siad there was no adjustment in the Upper Control arm to make as the computer told him to do. Adjustment is all in the lower control arm. Quote: Caster is the Front to rear angle of the center of the wheel, correct? and camber is the left to right angle of the center of the wheel. Toe is obvious. Caster is the imaginary centerline through both balljoints, when looking at the car from the side. less caster=more upright angle=more responsive steering, more caster=more laid back toward the rear=more straight-line stability Quote: I was under the impression from info on here that Al's arms made not adjustment allowances in the caster. Is this true or not? what Mitch said

Author:	Cobalt-60 [ Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:01 pm ]
Post subject:	Positive Camber Problem
I went to get the KJ aligned finally (unfortunately 4,000 miles after I put on the lift) and the shop I go to said that it is so far out of spec that they can't do it. I had noticed that I was getting excessive wear on the outside of the front tires. One of the techs pulled me on the side and recommended a specialty shop to take it to that he said would either be able to take care of it or point me in the right direction to someone who could. He also said that once I did that to keep a printout in the glovebox of what they did and THEN the regular shop could do it. Does this sound right? I really don't want to have to pull the front suspension apart again to take out the conduit nuts on the clevis lift. Any suggestions?

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Author:	tommudd [ Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:55 pm ]
Post subject:
Lot of the so called alignment places like Firestone , Sears, big box tire stores know how to align something that is bone stock, but have no idea what to do if you have lifted it. Makes no difference by the way specs are specs. Find a small shop that does alignments and talk to them. When I moved here 2 years ago I went around to 4 local small shops and "interviewed " them. Now if I can't do something I know that they can. As far as the alignment goes, mine is right at the edge , wears the tires great but can not go any more , any higher, well not for another week and get the Als arms on

Author:	Guest [ Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:20 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Positive Camber Problem
Cobolt-60 wrote: I went to get the KJ aligned finally (unfortunately 4,000 miles after I put on the lift) and the shop I go to said that it is so far out of spec that they can't do it. I had noticed that I was getting excessive wear on the outside of the front tires. One of the techs pulled me on the side and recommended a specialty shop to take it to that he said would either be able to take care of it or point me in the right direction to someone who could. He also said that once I did that to keep a printout in the glovebox of what they did and THEN the regular shop could do it. Does this sound right? I really don't want to have to pull the front suspension apart again to take out the conduit nuts on the clevis lift. Any suggestions? There's really no conceivable way that a KJ with a lift on it will wear tires on the outside, unless it's toed out a LOT. Camber will almost always be negative, and by lowering your KJ you'll only make the positive camber worse. What suspension parts are you running?

Author:	KJ04 [ Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:28 pm ]
Post subject:
Take the Techs advice, and go to the speciality shop As Tom stated, most alignment places don't know how to "tweak" a lifted Jeep to get it within specs.

Author:	Cobalt-60 [ Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:46 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Positive Camber Problem
ThunderbirdJunkie wrote: There's really no conceivable way that a KJ with a lift on it will wear tires on the outside, unless it's toed out a LOT. Camber will almost always be negative, and by lowering your KJ you'll only make the positive camber worse. What suspension parts are you running? Rusty's Lift with 3 conduit nut clevis lift, spidertrax wheel spacers, and stock steel wheels with 245/70/16 Destination ATs. I am out of town this weekend (taking the other car), so it will be the weekend after till I can take it to the speciality shop. Thanks for the feedback guys!!!